


Snatcher Week

by DragonLover19



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Snatcher Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-05 20:30:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16374539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonLover19/pseuds/DragonLover19
Summary: A whole week dedicated to everyone's favorite soul snatching ghost!Day 7: Prince





	1. Fooooooooool!

“ ** _AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! FOOOOOOOO_ oooooohhhh… It’s just you.**” His smile was quickly replaced with a frown. His would be victim was none other than the very pesky Hat Kid smiling smugly at him.

“Is that anyway to treat your BFF?”

Snatcher groaned, dropping his little dimension. “ **Seriously Kiddo! Why do you even _BOTHER_ coming here all the time? You’ve collected all those Time Pieces and fished all my contracts. Why do you _keep coming BACK?!_** ”

Hat Kid shrugged, rocking on her heels. “Cause I find Subcon fun?” She batted her eyelashes and _oh-h-h-h-ho_ , he could see the mischief gleaming in those teal eyes of hers.

“ **What are you planning kid?** ”

“Me? Nooooothiiiiinnnnnng.”

Yep. She planning something.

“ **You’re not very good at lying kid. I can sense mischief all around you.** ” Her smile vanished and replaced with a pout.

“I _knew_ it only worked on the Mafia.” He raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she sighed. “Alright, so, um, funny thing to ask, but, can I borrow some of your minions?”

“ **… _What?_** ”

“Okay, so.” Hat Kid started to pace. “See it’s getting close to Halloween and I got this BRILLIANT plan to scare the Mafia and I just need some of your—”

“ **Whoa whoa whoa waaaaiiit a moment kid.** ” He placed a hand in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. “ **First off, _WHY_ would you think I would give you any of my minions? Just because we’re contractually obligated BF’s it DOESN’T MEAN you can take any of my stuff!** ”

“Not even if I ask nicely?”

“ ** _Especially_ if you ask nicely!** ”

“ _Aaaaawwwwwwwwww!_ ”

“ **Secondly, what’s ‘Halloween’?** ”

The kid stared at him.

“ **… Uh, kid? You’re staring at me in a very odd way… _kiiiiid_? Are you there? You-who? Did your brain stop wor—** ”

“ _HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHAT HALLOWEEN IS?!_ ”

Snatcher practically jumped. For such a small body that girl sure had big lungs to scream that loud.

“You don’t know what—?! How can you not—?! It’s—!  You don’t _know_ —?! Halloween—!”

Snatcher wasn’t sure if he should be worried as the small child ran in circles in front of him clutching her hat tightly and pulling her hair. “ **Kid, what’s so important about Halloween?** ”

She stopped, spinning around to face him with shock. “ _What’s so important?!_ Halloween is the best time of the year! You get to dress up in spooky costumes, go trick-or-treating, tell ghost stories, scare people, and eat all sorts of candy—”

“ **Wait. Scare people?** ”

“Yeah! You know, when you dress up like a scary monster and scare someone for fun! Everybody does it back on my planet! It’s supper fun AND scares the soul right out of someone!”

Hat Kid continued to ramble on about Halloween activities, but Snatcher had tuned her out. Scare people? For fun? And it was _legal_ back on her planet? His grin grew wide. “ **You know kiddo.** ” He stopped her in her rambling. “ **I _might_ be able to spare a few of a minions after all. IF.** ”

“If?”

^*^

“ _SLIMY SPACE ALIEN ATTACK!_ ”

Snatcher cackled with glee as Mafia men ran away in fear as _‘slimy space aliens’_ chased after them. Who knew Mafias were so easy to scare when you covered your minions in muddy gunk? Had he known about this sooner, he would have done this more often!

“ **You were right kid! This was a great idea!** ” Snatcher spoke between laughs as he watched the Mafia scatter about.

Hat Kid smiled, kicking her legs out over the edge. “I told you Halloween is the best time of the year!”


	2. Contractual Obligations

If there was one thing Snatcher was good at, besides stealing souls and making any poor fool do his bidding, it was making contracts. Contracts were legal binding, part of law and, well, his past somewhat. He didn’t really remember much about his old law school. It was such a long time ago and he never really liked thinking much about his past.

Memories of **_her_** left a bitter taste in his mouth.

But anything from his time at law school was treasured. His teachers, his tutor, studying the rules of laws and all its guidelines, legal facts and its systems. Oh how he missed it.

Now however, since he no longer was among the living, he couldn’t be a part of any law system like he once dreamed when he was still alive. That didn’t stop him though.

When he first realized that he was dead, it took some time for him to figure out how he worked and know what he could do in this new permanent form. The soul eating came as a shock but he soon grew used to it. But the most surprising and greatest thing Snatcher could ever find out about himself was the ability to make contracts. It delighted him to no end.

His first victims were his minions. All of them were Dwellers at one point, and he couldn’t miss the opportunity to get some free labor. And, what good was a ruler without some subjects? After that, it became much easier when intruders started showing up. Not all ghosts can do everything and it was always fun making some poor soulless sucker do all the work.

Nothing made his day more than having a good contract.

*^*

“ **Kid, what is this?** ”

“My contract!” Hat Kid beamed with pride. A little too much pride in Snatcher’s eyes. Peck, she was even doing a small pose with her hands on her hips and an obnoxious smile on her face.

“ **Contract? _This_ thing?** ” He looked at the paper. It had crayon written all over, with scrawled symbols that he couldn’t understand in the slightest, and poor kid drawings of what looked like the kid and… _was that supposed to be him with a colorful horn on his head?_ “ **Kid, I can barely read this. Much less READ your space language. And why did you give me a _pink horn?!_** ”

The kid’s smile faded. “That’s… a party hat.”

Snatcher blinked, glancing at the picture again. “ **Huh. I guess that makes more sense. Still, what _is_ this supposed to be?** ”

“Your contractual obligation to my slumber party!”

“ **What?** ” Snatcher felt an eye twitch.

She climbed over to his seat, pointing at the paper. “This is my contract! You have to attend my slumber party tonight! Cooking Cat is going to be there and DJ Grooves also agreed to come!”

“ **This is more of an invitation than a contract kiddo.** ” Snatcher grabbed her by the cape and put her on the ground. “ **And I don’t like parties kid. Go bother someone else.** ”

“But you _haaavve to!_ Our contract says you have to!”

“ ** _No_. It says I have to be your _BFF_. Nothing about it says that I have to be a part of any social gatherings you’ve planed or give you little gifts or any of that stuff.** ”

“But the party won’t be the same without you!”

“ **You’ll live.** ” With that, Snatcher tossed the kid’s ‘contract’ away, pulling out a book and began reading.

Hat Kid pouted, tears pricking at the edges of her eyes. “ _Fine!_ If you won’t come then I’ll get someone else to!” She turned to leave when she felt a tug on her cape.

“ **It better not be someone from here kiddo. If you want someone else to go to your dumb party, why not try somewhere else?** ”

“And why would I do that?” She tugged her cape out of Snatcher’s grip. “You don’t want to go so why care who I ask.”

“ **I _don’t_ care who you ask as long as it’s nobody from _my_ forest. And don’t try asking any of my minions, they won’t go either.** ”

Hat Kid glared at him, tears threatening to fall. “YOU’RE SUCH A MEANIE SNATCHER!” She shouted as she took off running. Not towards the village as Snatcher hoped she would, but out the back way towards the old ruins of the forest.

He watched her go, her form getting smaller and smaller as she ran. “ **What is with that kid?** ” He mumbled to himself, settling back in his chair to read. Well, at least she wasn’t heading towards the manor. He didn’t need to worry about the kid. She was fine on her own. She practically knew the place like the back of her hand since she came here nonstop.

Something rustled behind him.

Glancing behind himself, Snatcher found the kid’s ‘contract’ stuck on his home. He plucked it up, looking at again. “ **All this because she couldn’t even make a decent contract.** ” He shook his head and sighed.

*^*

“Stupid, meanie, dumb Snatcher.” Hat Kid mumbled, sniffling and rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears. She wasn’t crying! She was a big girl! And big girls don’t ever cry! She just needed some time alone and away from that big meanie Snatcher.

Stupid Snatcher. She worked hard on that inva- _contract_. She put a lot of thought into it and did a really good job on those drawings! She was so sure he would come once he saw what she made. Snatcher loved contracts! She didn’t understand how he didn’t like this one.

“Maybe it was the party hat?” He _did_ seem a little offended that she drew a pink hat on him. But he looked nice in a pink hat!

Whatever. He wasn’t coming to her party because he didn’t sign the contract. He even threw it away! The big jerk! If he wasn’t coming, then she would invite someone else! But who?

Snatcher made it clear that his minions weren’t going. Probably told them not to. That big meanie! She could ask someone else, but, who? She wasn’t going to that creepy old lady. No way! She just needed to find someone. Someone who would like to come to her party and be thrilled that they were invited.

Maybe a Subcon Dweller? No, they couldn’t talk or do very much except float around. Fire Spirits? Na. They would just burn everything. This was going to be tougher than she thought.

She growled, kicking a rock. “This is hard! There has to be _someone_ I can invite to the party! Just… anyone.” She pouted, sitting down on an upturned root to think. Sitting still helped her think better. It also made the world around her go slow like a turtle. It made falling leaves fly in the sky, and the wavy hands in the swamp even more slow, and the singing slower than…

Singing?

Hat Kid blinked, listening carefully and… yes. Yes! She did hear singing! She hopped off the root, looking around and taking off to where she was certain the singing was coming from. It wasn’t long before she found an open area. She could hear the singing here but, where or who was singing it? It was almost like it was above—

She looked up. And immediately fell down in surprise.

High above her was a strange humanoid creature with blue skin, a funny looking face, red clothes, and no legs. There were chains dangling from their wrists. They were high above her, swaying to and fro, humming a tune before breaking out into song.

_ “It's a cruel cruel world, _

_ All you little boys and girls. _

_ And a mean, nasty Snatcher _

_ Wants to have you for his supper.” _

Snatcher? Did this guy know him?

  _“But if you follow me._

_ You can all be free! _

_ Free! _

_ You can all be free! _

_ It's a place where all of you can be free. _

_ If you dream _

_ If you dream _

_ If you dream my dream!” _

The stranger threw his arms up high and suddenly Hat kid was floating upwards. She gasped, spinning around in suspended air as she went higher and higher. Did this guy have some sort of power?

_ “It's a cruel cruel world _

_ All you little boys and girls _

_ With some mean, nasty nasty people _

_ Nasty _

_ Nasty _

_ Nasty people! _

_ But there's a way _

_ You can make your day! _

_ You can laugh! _

_ You can smile! _

_ You can come and stay awhile! _

_ You can dream my dream. _

_ You can have it all with me! _

_ You can dream my dream! _

_ You can dream my dream! _

_ You can dream my dream! _

_ You can dream—!” _

“Um! Excuse me!” Hat Kid grabbed the nearest branch she could grasp. The stranger froze and gravity suddenly started working again. Luckily since she was already holding onto the branch, she managed to stop herself from falling. Which was a good thing. She was pretty high up.

_ “… my… dream…” _

Hat Kid righten herself, dusting off nonexistent dust and looked up. She let out a startled yelp as the stranger was suddenly right in front of her, glaring down at her. His face slowly softened however as he got a good look at her.

“ _OH! Hello! I didn’t see you there! What are you doing way up in a tree? Did you climb all the way up here to say hello?_ ” The stranger grinned, showing of his fangs. There was something about his smile that reminded her of Snatcher’s own grin.

“Uh, not exactly? I kinda floated up here?”

The stranger blinked. “ _Floated? Well that’s strange! You’re not even a ghost! How did you even manage… wait. You’re not a ghost._ ” The stranger leaned closer, looking at her top to bottom. “ _But if you’re not a ghost, how did you manage to get past… him._ ”

“Who?”

“ _Oh no one. No one to concern yourself with._ ” The stranger waved his hand dismissively. “ _Now what brings a small girl like yourself here to this part of the Subcon? Didn’t your parents ever tell you the dangers that lurk here? You’re lucky enough to have run into me and not that… **PHILISTINE**._ ” He growled lowly.

“Philistine?” Hat Kid tilted her head in confusion.

“ _No one important to worry yourself with my dear!_ ” The stranger smiled, confusing the poor girl. This guy kept flipping his personality like a switch. “ _Anyways, as much as I would love to have some company, I’m afraid you must leave this place. A young girl such as yourself mustn’t wander in these woods. It’s full of dangers around every corner with monsters._ ”

“Like Vanessa.” Hat Kid nodded her head, remembering the scary old lady in the man—

“ _Wait-What?_ ” The stranger got close to her again. “ _How do you know **her** name? No one ever DARES speak of **her** in this forest!_ ”

Hat Kid back up, feeling hostility coming off from this stranger. “My… friend told me about her?”

The strangers face slowly lost its hostility, looking more puzzled and confused. “ _Your friend? And where would they hear about her? … Unless._ ” He backed off, placing a hand under his chin. “ _Unless the history of Subcon isn’t lost. This place is pretty secluded but not_ that _secluded. Could someone have our history written down somewhere? Is it possible that not all our lost history is lost?_ ”

Hat Kid watched as the stranger listed off different possibilities. She slowly smiled. He wasn’t such a bad guy! A little weird, but at least he was more friendly than Snatcher! Maybe he would want to join her party! “Hey! If you’re not busy, do want to come to my party tonight? I wanted to invite Snatcher but he didn’t want to come.”

The stranger froze. “ _… I’m… sorry._ ” He turned around slowly, frowning slightly. “ _Did you mention… Snatcher? As in, ‘_ Snatcher _’ Snatcher?_ ”

“Yeah. Big, shadow-like, grinning face, laughs like _a lot_.” Hat Kid listed the things on her fingers, unaware of the atmosphere slowly tensing up. “He also makes you these contracts and do these crazy chores and steals your soul. But he’s okay once you get to know him better! He’s my BFF!”

Hat Kid beamed, though, it slowly turned into a frown. The stranger was looking at her… oddly. “Hey, are you… okay? You’re looking at me really weird.”

“ _… heh… eh heh… eh heheheheheeehehe._ ”

The hair on the back of Hat Kid’s neck stood up. She frowned, taking a step back as the stranger continued to laugh. Though, it didn’t sound like a friendly sort of laugh. It sounded… hallow.

“ _Forgive me._ ” The stranger covered his face with one hand and placed his other hand on his hip. “ _But this. This must be some sort of joke. Snatcher. THE Snatcher. My **immortal enemy**._ ” He dragged his hand down his face, covering his lower half and _glaring daggers_ at her. “ _Is YOUR best friend?_ ”

Hat Kid felt like she was back in Vanessa’s manor again. Feeling the cold and terror creeping up on her. Only this time there was no scary evil old ice queen, but a stranger whose mismatched eyes were digging deep into her soul. “U-u-uh. W-we’re more of c-contractually obligated f-friends.” She tried stepping further back, but nearly lost her balance and her footing. She looked behind herself. There wasn’t much room left on the branch, and what was worse was that she was still very high up in the tree. She looked back to the stranger and tried to smile. “W-well it’s been fun but I need to get ready for the p-party.” She took out her umbrella, ready to jump down and run for it.

Only for her umbrella to suddenly jump out of her hands. “Wh-HEY!”

The umbrella flew into the strangers open palm, and with a stone cold face, clenched his hands into a fist. Hat Kid looked on in horror as the stranger merely opened his hand, letting the broken umbrella fall.

“ _We’re not do yet little miss._ ” The stranger spook, dusting his hands and slowly getting closer to Hat Kid. “ _You see, it’s been SOO long since I’ve had anyone to talk with._ ” He advanced closer, looming over the small cowering child. “ _So how about you start telling me **everything** you know about your… **BFF.**_ ”

“ **HOW ABOUT WE START WITH MY FIST TO YOUR FACE?!** ” The stranger didn’t have time to react as a shadowy fist collided to his face, sending him flying backwards into a tree.

“SNATCHER!”

Snatcher hardly paid any mind to the hatted child. His main focus was on the stranger. “ **I thought I told you to _get lost_ Moonboy. You know fully well that Subcon is _MY_ domain.** ”

“ _It’s Moon_ JUMPER _to you **shadow**._ ” The stranger, now better known as Moonjumper, slowly rose back up, rubbing his jaw. “ _That was certainly a nasty punch. Is that anyway to treat an old friend?_ ”

“ **We. Are. NOT. Friends. Never have been. Never will be.** ” Snatcher growled, his hair flaring like a burning fire. “ **Now get out of my forest before you lose another limb of yours.** ”

“ _And leave without taking my new puppet? Oh Snatcher._ ” Moonjumper chuckled darkly. “ ** _You must be losing your edge._** ”

Something whistled in the air and before Hat Kid could blink, Snatcher’s hand shot out, snatching something in the air right in front of Hat Kid. Her eyes widened. In Snatcher’s grasp was a red string that was moving widely. It dawned on the small girl that if Snatcher hadn’t grabbed it—

“ **Who is it that’s losing their edge?** ” Snatcher remarked coldly, taking the string in his grip and snapping it in two. “ **First you enter into MY territory. Then you threaten my BFF? That’s low.** ”

Moonjumper angrily glared at Snatcher. He looked ready for a fight, but stopped. Hat Kid, curious to what stopped him, looked around. In the darkness around them, glowing eyes of minions, Dwellers and Fire Spirits were gathered around, all trained on the intruder that threatened to fight their ruler. She hadn’t even noticed they were there!

“ **Count this as a final warning Moonboy. Either you leave and never show your face here ever again. Or I turn your body into rags.** ” Snatcher threatened, extending his claws and putting out waves of his power.

Moonjumper looked around him. Many eyes were on him, glaring at him. He looked back at the living shadow and small child. “ _…_ ” His mouth slowly turned upward. He bowed. “ _Till we met again shadow. I look forward to our next meeting._ ” With that, his body was consumed by… pixels? And was gone.

Snatcher waited for a moment, making sure that Moonjumper was truly gone before sighing and turning towards the child. “ **Well that could have gone better. You okay kid?** ”

Hat Kid was silent. She stared at the place where Moonjumper had been only moments ago.

“ **Kid? Hey, kid.** ” She snapped out of her thoughts, looking over to Snatcher.

“Hm?”

“ **I asked if you were okay. He didn’t do anything weird to you did he? Nothing bad?** ” He looked her over, poking at her which made her giggle a bit and push his fingers away.

“I’m fine.” She frowned sadly, looking down. “But he did break my umbrella.”

Snatcher glanced down, finding the broken item laid out on the ground. “ **That was rude of him.** ” He huffed, holding out his hand.

It took her couple of seconds to realize that Snatcher was asking her to step on his hand. With some worried reluctance, she carefully stepped onto the shadows hand, letting him hold her in his grasp.

Once the kid was in his hands, he turned to his minions. “ **Alright! You all know the drill! Make sure all the barriers are still up and no one is missing! If ANYTHING is out of the norm or someone is gone, tell me RIGHT AWAY!** ”

The minions all gave a salute and ran off into different directions. Once it was just him and the kid again, Snatcher sighed. He was tired and wasn’t in the mood for anything but a good law book to read, when he felt the kid tug on his hair.

“Um, Snatcher?”

He looked down at her. “ **What’s up kid?** ”

She looked scared, playing with her zipper. “Who… who was that? And why was he angry with you? Did you steal his soul at some point?”

Snatcher couldn’t help himself but chuckle a little. “ **Not… exactly kiddo. Let’s just say that he and I go back a looong time ago. We’re not the best of… acquaintances, you might say. He and I have been fighting for control over the forest since the beginning.** ” He stopped a moment, thinking of something. “ **It’s been a while since I’ve seen him again now that I think about it. And why did he chose to come out now?** ”

“Is he going to come back?” Hat Kid hugged herself. She didn’t want to meet that creepy guy again!

“ **Possibly. Who knows? It’s hard to predict what that floating corpse will do.** ”

“C-Corpse?!” Hat Kid squeaked, pulling her hat to her chest.

Snatcher’s widened. “ **Oh. Guess you didn’t know that. Well, better late than never I guess!** ” He chuckled a bit but it died away when the kid didn’t join in. He sighed, turning to head back to his tree. “ **You were lucky one of the minions saw you heading deeper into the forest kid. If they hadn’t alerted me, I wouldn’t have come in time to save you.** ”

Hat Kid mumbled something under her breath, though Snatcher was sure it sounded like a thank you. “ **Now, how about we fix that so called contract of yours and make a decent one hm?** ”

“My contract was perfectly fine!”

Snatcher’s laugh echoed throughout the forest, traveling back home as red eyes followed him in the darkness. “ _So it is true. You’ve grown pathetic shadow._ ” Moonjumper growled, digging his claws into the tree he hid behind. “ _… No matter. Enjoy your fun. For now._ ” He smiled, pulling out a doll that had a striking resemblance to the hatted child. “ _It won’t be long till Subcon is **MINE**._ ” With that, Moonjumper vanished, leaving nothing behind but the marks on the tree.


	3. Death Wish

There was something… _odd_ about Snatcher lately.

Normally she was the one invading on his home, but recently he had been visiting her to do these _Death Wish Contracts_ that she was sure would kill her if she wasn’t careful. She didn’t mind too much. If it meant spending time with her BFF, she wasn’t complaining. But that wasn’t the main problem.

The problem was that Snatcher had taken away the telescope that helped her land on the planet down below. More accurately, the telescope to Subcon Forest. She knew he was reasonable for it since it disappeared when he started showing up. She had confronted him about it, but he only shrugged.

“ **Kid, I’m sure you lose stuff on a daily basis. Just look at this mess in your room! I’m sure you just misplaced it or something. I’m sure it’ll turn up eventually. By the way, did you notice that there’s still some more contracts you haven’t finished yet on this map?** ”

There was no way she _lost_ a _telescope_. It was bad enough that she couldn’t get down there without it, but what was worse was Snatcher being the culprit and denying it!

Well if he wasn’t going to play nice, then neither was she!

She raced to the art gallery where she stored all her paints at, grabbing a couple of cans filled with blue paint when she noticed the telescope in the Machine Room. It had been a while since she visited the Conductor and DJ Grooves. She was still sour about the whole Award Ceremony thing but she still managed to be friends with the birds.

On a more distant no more movies for a long time level.

She went over to the window and peered out. The planet really looked better when it wasn’t a fireball of boiling lava. She could make out a lot places from here. Dead Bird Studio. Mafia Town. Alpine Skyline. Subcon—

 _Subcon Forest_.

She pressed her face closer to the window. She didn’t notice before, but Dead Bird Studio was _awfully_ close to Subcon Forest. _Very close_. Like so close that she could probably make it over there if she took…

She smiled.

*^*

“Waz-what? You want tae take me train tae _Subcon Forest?_ Are ya kiddin’?!”

“Please Conductor? I need a way to get there and your train is the fastest there is to getting there!”

“Aye aye aye lass! Yer pullin’ me feathers on this one.” The Conductor sighed, rubbing his face. He was more than happy when she suddenly popped by, asking around for him instead of DJ Peck Neck. He was! She was his star in his latest movies, even if it didn’t get him the first place trophy they were still the best he ever gotten. “Lassie, Ah want tae help ya. Ah do! But Ah can’t take ya tae such place.”

“Why not?”

“Well, fer starters, me train can’t get off its rails if ya know what Ah mean. And secondly even the closest we can get tae that place, there’s no stops or stations tae put me train at. Trains have a very strict schedule tae keep, and they don’t like railhogs hoggin’ up the tracks! We would have tae keep movin’ so there be no accidents with other trains!”

Hat Kid frowned. “But… isn’t your train the _only_ train on this planet?”

“Um, well, yes. But laws are laws. _Even ridiculous ones fer only one train_. And Ah can’t really break those laws lass. They take me train away if Ah did!”

“But Conductor please! Snatcher’s been acting weird lately! He stole my telescope and won’t tell me anything no matter how much I ask or try!” She grabbed the Conductor’s arm, looking at him with her best puppy dog eyes. “I need to find out what’s going on and you’re my best shot of getting there! Please Conductor please!”

“Ah’m sorry lass but Ah—HEY! Hey you! Yeah You! What do you think yer doin’?!”

A poor owl stopped in his tracks.

“That prop is fer scene five! FIVE! Not scene seven ya peck neck! Put it back in the right set before Ah come over there and pluck out all yer feathers!” The owl epped, racing back to the right set. The Conductor sighed, shaking his head. “What do Ah even pay them fer?”

“Um, Conductor?”

“Hm? Oh. Right. Lass, Ah can’t help you with this. Me train is precious tae me and Ah can’t have no law bidin’ peck necks take it away fer breakin’ a few rules tae help ya. Birds depend on that train ya know? Need tae get tae one place tae another lickaty split!”

Hat Kid frowned a moment. “But don’t you already break the rules? Like you do when you’re filming movies?”

The Conductor scoffed, waving one hand. “Aaah that. Not really lass. The laws are laws but they can’t keep everythin’ in their tight grasp of theirs. Bein’ a movie director gives ya some privileges that the law can’t punish ya fer. The name of cinematography is an art and an easy usage tae get out of trouble. Eh he he~.”

Hat Kid pondered a moment. The law won’t let Conductor break any rules if it meant that his train would get taken away but they couldn’t do a thing if it was a movie in progress. She smiled. This gave her an idea!

“Conductor, Conductor! Maybe there _is_ a way you can take me there!” She shook the old bird’s arm, smiling brightly. “You can make a movie out of it!”

“What?”

“Listen listen! You said that the law can’t do anything to you if you’re filming a movie right?”

“Ay, that’s true. But where are ya goin’ with this lassie?”

“You can use Subcon as your new movie!”

“ _What?!_ ” Conductor screamed, catching everyone’s attention and stopping them in their tracks. “Lass, are ya mad?! Ah can’t do that! That place is full of spooks! Ghosts! _Real_ ghosts! Not movie props or special effects! Not tae mention the king of spooks _lives_ there! Ah can’t just waltz right in there and start filmin’! Ah’ve heard of the stories and met the spook himself! Ah’m **_not_** doin’ it!”

Hat Kid frowned. “Not even for the chance to win the Annual Bird Award?”

“Even fer the award!” Gasps broke out. “Yeah! Yeah! Ah know! Gasp! GET BACK TAE WORK!” He sighed, looking at the hatted alien child. “Look lass. Ah know yer worried fer yer friend, but I don’t want tae risk losin’ me soul just yet. Even Ah have me limits.”

“But. But what if you don’t go to Subcon? What if you just stay outside and say you were looking for inspiration for your new movie?”

“Lass.”

“I’d be the only one to go in! Snatcher’s taken my soul before and I got it back! You don’t have to go in! I just need to get there!”

Conductor frowned, looking at her deeply. She had her best puppy dog eyes on, full of tears and her little lip was trembling. If there was one thing besides his train that the Conductor was weak against, it was the sad look of puppy eyes. And his grandfatherly instincts.

“ALRIGHT FINE! Fine! Ah’ll do it! Just! Stop lookin’ at me with those eyes!” Hat Kid cheered. “But it’s gonna take a while fer me tae pull this off lass. Might take a few days.”

“That’s alright!” She hugged him. “Take as long as you need!” She snuggled against him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you.”

The Conductor froze. No one had hugged him like this. Not since his dear wife’s passing. “… yer welcome lass.” He smiled, patting her on the back.

*^*

Snatcher was aware that the kid was up to something.

She was smiling more than usual and not in a good way. More like the ‘I-know-something-you-don’t-but-I-won’t-tell-you-what-it-is’ kind of look. He could go looking in the dairy of hers, but that would risk him getting colored blue like the first time she found him snooping in her stuff.

Still, she did the contracts and still _managed to **live**_. Uuugh. He really needed to fix that soon. And fast. The kid was flying through these faster than he had anticipated.

“I’m off!” Snatcher looked up from his book as the kid ran through the door, leaving him behind.

She sounded… oddly cheery today. Now that he thought of it, she had been in a really good mood this morning. More so than usual when she got back from visiting the Conductor. Odd. He only met the old bird/thing once. Not certainly the nicest fellow but had a very funny accent. He should try to make a contract for that old bird sometime soon.

Or maybe he could use him to make the contract more difficult. That was an idea too. She had mentioned about that award ceremony battle in her dairy before she splattered him with blue paint.

He looked outside, admiring the view of his home planet. Who knew that his home was so beautiful up in space? He could see everything from up here! The village, the sea, the train stopping at the edge of his home, the mountain—

“ **Wait what?** ” He pressed closer to the glass, squinting to get a better look. He knew of the train that passed by the edge of his home turf. It never bothered to stop or treed on his home so he never bothered it. But now it had stopped by the edge of his home. _Very close._

Now why would it do that?

Summoning the kid’s telescope—yeah yeah, he did take it, sue him—he focused on the train. Owls were piling out of the train, carrying equipment and cameras. What were they doing? Were they some tour group or something?

His answer came quickly when the Conductor fellow came out of the train, shouting something at the owls and—

His jaw dropped.

No.

Not possible.

She didn’t.

The kid jumped off the train. She talked with the Conductor a bit before running towards—

“ **THAT LITTLE PUNK!** ” He screamed as Hat Kid disappeared into the forest. He should have known this was what she was planning! Why hadn’t he taken that other telescopes too?!

Growling, he teleported down to his home, hoping to stop the kid before she found her way to the village and ruin everything.

*^*

Turns out that teleportation wasn’t as fast as he thought it was when he emerged inside the village. He was already too late as several of his minions had gathered around the little hat punk, eagerly chatting and tugging on her sleeves.

“ **Oh! Boss! You’re back!** ” One of the minions spotted him, alerting everyone of his presence. The kid gave him a weak smile. Oh she was in trouble when he was through with her.

“ **Hey boss! Should we give her the stuff now?** ” Another minion piped up before he could do anything.

“Stuff?” Hat Kid looked at the minions, confused to what was going on around her. Maybe he could still fix this.

“ **Yeah! The stuff boss had us make for you for completing his contracts!** ”

Or not.

He sighed as his minions went off to grab the ‘stuff’. Hat Kid looked at him in confusion, waiting for an answer. “ **Look kid. When someone doesn’t want you snooping in their business, usually it means _don’t go snooping._ But I guess you’d figure it out sooner or later.** ” He sighed as one of his minions came back with something in their hands.

“ **Here you go kid! We hope you like it!** ” She took the item and to her surprise, it was a raincoat! A brand new one! She looked at Snatcher in surprise.

“ **What? You didn’t think you weren’t going to get something for not completing some of my new contracts did you? Think of it as a motivating gift to keep you on your toes. A bribe if you will.** ”

She smiled at him.

“ **Don’t give me that look! You’re just lucky to have completed some of my contracts to earn this. This is the only time you’re getting a reward by the way.** ”

“ **But boss, what about all the other—** ”

Snatcher quickly slapped a hand over the minion’s mouth. “ **If you happen to complete more of my contracts however, I _might_ just give you another reward. You know. Checks and balances.** ”

Hat Kid said nothing. She just smiled as she raced over to Snatcher and pounced on him, hugging him tightly.

“ **Wh-WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT PUBLIC AFFECTION KID?!** ” Snatcher scream, failing his arms about as his minions giggled and cooed at the sight. “ **That’s It! I’m Making The Contracts Harder! No! _Impossible_ For You To Finish! You’ll Be Dead Before You Even Finish Half Of The Map!** ” Snatcher continued screaming, shouting out threats and death promises. Though no one believed him as he didn’t bother to try to get the small girl off him.


	4. Mail Delivery

 

Honestly he didn’t really recall when he started stealing other peoples mail and giving them to his minions. He kept doing it just to spite a lot of people when their mail went missing. And the minions seemed to enjoy it.

Whatever.

As long as his minions were satisfied and it annoyed people to no end.

“ **Boss! Hey Boss!** ” One of his minions ran towards him, holding a box with an envelope taped on top.

“ **What is it? Can’t you see I’m a bit busy at the moment?** ” Snatcher dog eared the page he was currently on as the minion ran up to him.

“ **Boss! You’re not gonna believe this! Look what I got in the mail!** ” The minion held up the box for Snatcher to see, but the taller ghost just waved him off.

“ **It’s a box. Big deal.** ”

“ **But it’s addressed to _you_ Boss!** ”

Snatcher’s eyes went wide. He took the box and looked it over. The box looked normal enough, but the envelope had his name on it. He took the envelope off the box, slicing it open with his talon and taking out a folded piece of paper. He glanced at the minion who just shrugged, confused as he was, before opening the paper.

_Dear Snatcher,_

_I heard of how you liked to give your minions mail sometimes as a sign that someone cares about them, so I decided to give **you** something for once! It took me a looooong time to make it, so you better appreciate the hard work I put into it!_

_Love Your Secret Gift Giver!_

Snatcher stared at the letter for a long time. This had to be one of the kid’s jokes. It had her written all over it! Though the penmanship was neatly written and there wasn’t a single doodle drawn on the paper. Either she learned how to write properly, or she had someone write it for her.

Probably someone else.

He looked down at the unopened box, curious to what the kid had made for him. And why send it by mail and not just give it to him in person? Shrugging, he opened the box and peered inside.

If it was possible for his eyes to get any bigger, which it was since he was a ghost, his eyes were wide as the moon.

“ **Boss? Are you okay?** ” The minion was starting to get worried as Snatcher had been silent for a long time.

Snatcher said nothing. His eyes were locked on to whatever was inside the box. Suddenly, a wide big grin appeared on his face, and he threw his head back, laughing long and hard.

*^*

Hat Kid wasn’t sure what was worse.

Chasing after a small cute kitten that had a Time Piece through various obstacles and dangerous traps, or running away from a big angry monster tiger that chased her after she managed to corner the smaller feline. Neither of them had been fun to do. She got banged up, scratches, and dark bruises literally _everywhere_ on her small body. There was even a big cut on her arm where the big cat had gotten too close for comfort.

So, yeah.

Today was a bad day.

Her legs were killing her as she stumbled towards her bed, climbing in and getting under the covers. She just wanted to sleep and forget about all her troubles for now. Maybe sleep in tomorrow too. At least Snatcher wouldn’t mind missing her visits. She didn’t want to deal with him or anyone else for a while.

**_Intruder Alert!_ **

**_Intruder Alert!_ **

Hat Kid groaned. She was just about to go to sleep! Couldn’t whoever was invading on her ship just leave her alone?! She pulled the covers over her head, hoping that whoever it was would just go away.

“ **Hey. Hey newbie. Newbie.** ” An annoying voice whispered, poking her sheets roughly. “ **Hey, newbie. You awake? Hey. Newbie. Hey. Newbie. Newbie. Newbie. Hey. Hey newbie. Newbie. Newbie. Newbie. New—** ”

Hat Kid growled out in frustration as she threw the covers aside and glared at whoever was keeping her from sleeping. A Snatcher minion let out a small surprised sound as they fell backwards off her bed.

A Snatcher minion?

She groaned. Great! Snatcher probably sent them just to bug her from getting any sleep! “Go away! I’m trying to sleep!”

The minion poked their head up at the foot of her bed. “ **Oh good! You’re awake newbie!** ”

“Go Away!” She shouted, grabbing the covers and hiding under them.

“ **Aw, come on newbie! Don’t act like that!** ”

“ _Go away!_ ” Her voice was muffed under the blanket, willing the minion to see that they were intruding on a bad time and they got the hint to leave.

“ **But newbie, I came to deliver you your mail!** ”

“ _Mail goes in the mail room._ ” She poked out an arm, pointing somewhere that was more likely not in the direction of the mail room. “ _Now go away please._ ”

“ **But this is special mail newbie! It has to be delivered straight to you!** ”

Hat Kid peered out from under the covers of her blanket, staring at the minion before sighing and sitting up. She could tell that they weren’t going anywhere until she got this ‘special mail’. “Alright fine.” She sighed out, rubbing her eyes. “What is it?”

“ **You got to close your eyes first newbie.** ”

She glared at the minion.

“ **Sorry. Boss’s orders or you won’t get it.** ”

She groaned loudly but covered her eyes. Something landed in front of her. When she looked, she found a dark purple box with a familiar smiling face on all sides. “Really? This was so important because?”

“ **There’s also this letter for you!** ” The minion pulled out a letter, holding it out for her to take.

“Gee thanks.” She huffed, taking the letter.

“ **That’s all for now! See you later newbie!** ” With that the minion vanished.

She really didn’t feel like opening anything from Snatcher at the moment. She just felt like kicking the box away along with the letter and finally get some shuteye. But knowing Snatcher, he’d probably wouldn’t like it if she did that, so reluctantly, she opened the letter and read it.

**_Heeey kiddo!_ **

**_The funny thing is when you’re trying to be secretive about something, people usually try_ ** **harder _to keep people from figuring that it was you. Not a bad start, but it was a dead give away from the start! The closing line was a big give away too._**

**_Anyways, you’re probably wondering what’s in the box right about now~_ **

**_I won’t spoil it but I think you can take a guess to what horrors wait for you inside._ **

**_Hope it gives you nightmares!_ **

**_From Your Contractually Obligated BFF_ **

It took her longer than it should for her to realize that he was referring to her gift she sent earlier today. She huffed in annoyance. She worked hard on that and he was mocking her for not being secretive enough?! She had the right mind to go down there and paint him blue!

She turned to the box. Now what could be inside? Maybe nothing good…

Slowly, she took out her umbrella, creeping towards the box and giving it a small poke. You can never be too careful around Snatcher. When poking it didn’t do anything, she got braver and scooted closer, taking the box in hand and ripping it open.

When she looked inside, the corners of her mouth slowly turned upwards.

*^*

“ **Boss! Boss! I’m back!** ”

Snatcher looking up from his book as a minion came running into his home. They stopped and saluted. “ **The package has been delivered Boss!** ”

The corners of his mouth turned upwards. “ **Excellent! Well done! Now get out of here unless I need you again.** ”

“ **Sure thing Boss!** ” The minion saluted again and took off.

Snatcher smiled, leaning back into her chair and went back to reading his book. Everything seemed normal in his small little home, but if someone looked around _really_ carefully, they would have the slight chance of spotting something sitting on top of the empty wardrobe. Something small, purple, and had a strikingly big resemblance to the soul snatcher himself.

Most would assume that the Snatcher was completely full of himself, but if they looked closer, they could make out bits and pieces that were the handy work of small child hands that were skilled but still made a few mistakes here and there.

High up in space, just above the planet’s orbit, Hat Kid slept with her new furry plush companion. Sleeping soundly for the first time in a long long while with her new dark purple ghostly wolf with glowing yellow eyes watching over her in her sleep.


	5. Your Contract for Butterfly Hunting has Expired

“Come on Snatcher! You’re not even trying!”

“ **Kid, I really don’t see the point of this.** ” He honestly didn’t. He had no idea how he got roped in being dragged out of his home by the kid’s instance with a butterfly net in hand. Well, no, he actually had a decent idea about what it was that got him out here in the first place.

“Well, by this contract that you signed yourself, you have to try if you ever want to stop.” The kid giggled as she pulled out the dang paper that started this whole thing. To be honest, it was a fairly okay contract. Short, simple, and to the point.

And utterly _ridiculous_.

Help me capture 10 blue butterflies. _Butterflies!_ Of all things he could do, it had to be **butterflies?!** And why on an island so far away from his home?! Couldn’t she have done it by herself?!

“Wait! Snatcher don’t move!” He froze. What? What was going on? Was it an enemy? An attack? A—

“Got it!” Hat Kid cheered, bringing the net down on Snatcher’s back. The baffled shadow looked behind himself, finding the kid’s net with a caught butterfly in it. “Careful. Careful.” She eased the net off of his back, taking the caught butterfly and quickly placing it inside a jar with other butterflies in it. “Got it! I think this is number ten!” She cheered, capping the jar and held it up with triumph.

“ **So we’re done now? No more of this silly game?** ”

Hat Kid nodded. “Your contract has been fulfilled.”

“ **Great! Now I’m going home. I’ve got an interesting book that’s—** ”He turned around to leave, only for his swinging arm to hit the jar in the small girl’s hands, making her drop the jar. Hat Kid didn’t even have time to react as the jar fell on a rock, splitting open and freeing all the butterflies inside.

Mute horror was on her face as all the butterflies they had collected flew off in different directions.

“ **Oh. Whoops. There goes all that hard work.** ” Snatcher scratched his head, watching all the butterflies take off. “ **Too bad for you eh kiddo?** ”

“Wha-WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Hat Kid screamed, pulling on her hat.

“ **Me? It wasn’t on purpose kid. It was an accident. A rare thing on my account.** ”

“All the butterflies! They’re gone!”

“ **They were just bugs kid! No need to freak out about it.** ”

“They were from my home planet! They were my school project!”

Snatcher blinked. “ **Wait, really? How in the world did you manage to lose bugs from a different planet here?** ”

“We got to catch them again!” Hat Kid started running off, but was brought to a halt by a tug on her cape.

“ **Sorry kiddo. Our business deal is already done.** ” She turned around and frowned at him. “ **Once the contract has been fulfilled, it becomes null and void. Which means I won’t be doing anything.** ”

“What?! But—”

“ **The contract is expired kid. We’re finished. Through. Our working relationship is done.** ” He smiled his wicked grin. “ **Don’t take it personal kid. But you really have to brush up on you knowledge on law. Smell you later!** ”

“Wait! Snatcher!” But it was too late. Snatcher had already teleported away. She let out a frustrated groan, grabbing her net and going off to hunt the butterflies. Again.

*^*

The night was slowly setting in. It was getting dark out with the sun setting in the distance.

And she only managed to catch nine out of the ten butterflies.

She groaned, lying face down in the sand. This was _hard_! It was much easier with Snatcher’s help with this. But _noooo_! He just had to take off! Worst BFF ever.

She glanced up at the sky. She needed to find the last butterfly soon before it got too dark out for her to see. But she looked everywhere! Where could it—

Something fluttered against her head.

She sat up, disturbing whatever was on her head and—a butterfly! She smiled, grabbing her net and started chasing the butterfly. She chased it high, she chased it low. Across streams and ponds, over branches and threw tree tops, in and out of caves. Hat Kid huffed. This butterfly was stubborn! And she kept losing sight of it!

“ _Hold still._ ” She crept carefully, making sure not to make a sound as she snuck up on the butterfly. It finally landed on a flower, just sitting there waiting for her to catch it. “ _Careful._ ” She slowly rose the net high above her head. “ _Carefuulll._ ”

She brought the net down quickly, catching the butterfly in her net. “YES! Got it!” She cheered… only for her jaw to drop as the butterfly teleported _out_ of her net and flew away. “HEY!” She began chasing after it, but stopped. She could hear a low cackling echoing just about everywhere.

It almost sounded famil—

“SNATCHER!” She screamed out, angrily glaring at the forest around her.

The ground underneath her turned purple and Snatcher’s head popped up before pulling the rest of himself up out of the ground. “ ** _WHHHHHHHY HELLO THERE KIDDO!_ You miss me?** ”

“How long have you been here?! Were you here the entire time?!”

“ **Yep! It was so much fun watching you chase around my little butterfly!** ” Snatcher cackled, holding out his hand which the butterfly that Hat Kid had been chasing landed in. Only now that she got a better look at it, it was a deep purple than a blue color. “ **Oh don’t give me that look kid. I managed to catch one of yours.** ” He pulled out an orb containing the right colored butterfly inside.

“Gimme!” Hat Kid lunged for the orb, though after chasing that fake butterfly all around and tracking down all the other butterflies, she was just too tired to do anything other than pound her fists against his body weakly before falling flat against him.

Snatcher… well, it was a funny sight, but he expected more of a challenge or more than just… that. “ **Yeesh kid. Don’t get too excited.** ” She made a muffled groan sound against him. Snatcher rolled his eyes in disappointment. “ **You’re just beaming with energy kid.** ” He plucked her up by her cape, setting her down on the grass and—

Yikes. She didn’t not look too good. Her clothes were dirty, her hair was a mess, there were dark bags under her eyes. “ **Kid, when’s the last time you had a break? Better question, when’s the last time you had a _bath_?!** ”

Hat Kid blinked, her head swaying to and fro, battling to keep her eyes open. “L… last… l-last week?”

“ **…** ” Snatcher could believe what he heard. “ **… I honestly don’t know if I should be impressed or just plain grossed out.** ” He shook his head, tucking the butterfly away. “ **Alright, let’s get you back to your ship young lady.** ”

“carry?” Hat Kid mumbled, raising her hands sleepily and making grabbing motions.

“ **Wha-No! I’m not going to carry you all the way back to your ship kid!** ”

She shook her head. “fly…”

Snatcher blinked a moment before he finally figured it out. “ **Oooh! You want to carry the butterfly.** ” She nodded her head weakly. Taking out the orb and handing it to her, she pulled the orb into a hug, resting her head against its top. “ **Uh, kid? I may not have the need to sleep, but I’m pretty sure that should be a bit too uncomfortable for you to sleep on… kid?** ” He poked her on the head, getting no response from her. “ **Oi. You’re making me do all the hard work huh kid?** ”

Sighing, Snatcher scooped the child up into his arms, flying her home to her spaceship. Hopefully she would remember to take a bath once she woke up.


	6. BFF

_She. Was. Late._

Most of the forest felt an unease tension that grew with each passing day that a certain hatted child seemed to miss showing up. The minions could feel it. The Dwellers could feel it. Peck, even the annoying Fire Spirits could feel it too! Even the spiders and the nonliving nooses could sense the tension! It probably wouldn’t be surprise if **_she_** could feel it as well.

“ ** _You go talk to him._** ”

“ ** _No way! You go talk to him._** ”

A small group of minions were huddled in front of the Boss’s home, whispering to one another so not to alert/anger their ghostly ruler of their presence. They had all agreed that something had to be done with the fourteenth day rolled by, and still there was no sign of the newbie anywhere. The Boss’s anger was getting suffocating at this point, and it was only halfway through day fifteen! Someone had to know what was going on!

Only problem was that no one was willing to go up there and talk to him. Their bravery had washed away when the hollow tree home of the Snatcher came into view. Now they were bickering among themselves to who would go talk to him.

“ ** _I can’t go talk to him! He’ll kill me!_** ”

“ ** _We’re already dead! Just go talk to him already._** ”

“ ** _No! You should go talk to the Boss._** ”

“ ** _M-me?_** ”

“ ** _Yeah. You._** ”

“ ** _B-but what i-if he eats m-me?_** ”

“ ** _Boss only eats souls from contracted clients._** ”

“ ** _Yeah. He’d never harm us!_** ”

“ ** _Well he did send one guy to_ HER _place that one time…_** ”

Silence hung over them, turning gazes at one another as the tree seemed to loom over them with foreboding. None of them wanted to walked up to the Boss and ask him what was keeping the newbie from coming to visit and why he was so angry.

“ ** _M-maybe we should come back later._** ”

“ ** _Yeah. Maybe the Boss will calm down in an hour or two._** ”

“ ** _Waiting sounds like a good idea!_** ”

“ ** _Are we sure that’s a go—_** ”

“ ** _THAT’S IT!_** ” The minions jumped as the Snatcher’s loud outburst caught them off guard, as well as the sound of a heavy book slamming shut before being thrown to the ground. The long serpentine body of the Snatcher floated out at a fast pace, grumbling to himself and not noticing the small crowd of cowering minions below him as he passed by.

“ **Pesky kid. Making me worry. Over _HER_ of all things! Not visiting over two weeks. Doesn’t even let me know!** ” He continued to grumble to himself as he headed towards the best place to look for the kid first, leaving behind very confused minions.

“ **… sooo. Who wants to bet that the newbie’s alright?** ”

“ **Five says that she’s hurt!** ”

“ **Ten says that she’s sick!** ”

“ **Forty says that the Boss takes care of her!** ”

*^*

Cooking Cat sighed as she stirred a pot full of soup. She hoped the child would be able to eat this. She hadn’t eaten anything solid over a couple of days now, and it was starting to worry her. The poor girl couldn’t keep her food down for long, and Cooking Cat was certain that this wasn’t just a common cold now.

Her fever kept spiking, her body was shivering like a dog out in the cold, her skin was turning awfully pale, not to mention how dark her eyes were getting. The poor girl looked like she was dying! Not even the medicine that she gave her was helping out, and she seemed to be getting worse each day.

“Hmm. This doesn’t seem like a normal fever. Then again, I don’t rightly know how alien fevers work.” She talked to herself, a little habit she did when she felt nervous. “I just wish she would get better soon. This sickness is putting the poor girl through a lot of pain.” Taste testing the soup and deeming it ready, she poured some into a bowl and proceeded to head for the bedroom.

Only to get a nasty surprise when she stepped out from the double doors.

“ ** _THERE YOU—_** ” Cooking Cat screamed as a black shadow face with yellow eyes screamed in her face, only to stop suddenly once they realized they were yelling at the wrong person. “ **Oh wait. You’re not the kid.** ”

Cooking Cat clutched her chest, trying to get both her breathing and her heart rate under control.

“ **Wait a minute. Aren’t you that cat that cooks? Cookie Cat right?** ”

“C-Cooking Cat actually.” CC replied once she managed to get her breathing under control.

“ **Right right. Whatever. Where is she?** ” Cooking Cat tilted her head as the shadow disappeared one moment and reappeared the next.

“Who?”

“ **The kid!** ” He plucked one of the ‘relics’ up, looking underneath it. “ **She’s been absent in her usual pestering visits to my forest. You can’t believe how many of my minions have been pestering me about it!** ”

“Well she’s certainly not underneath a hamburger plush.” Cooking Cat shook her head. “You must be Snatcher correct?”

“ **S’up.** ” Snatch _greeted_ , dashing down into engine room and came back with a deep scowl.

“Look, if you’d be so kindly as to not visit at the moment?” The ghost turned to glare at her. “As much as she would like company right now, poor little thing is too sick to see people right now.”

“ **Sick? What do you mean _sick?_** ” The shadow put his hands to his… well, not exactly hips.

“Sick as in SICK. Really badly too. Poor dear can’t even get out of bed much less eat anything right about now.”

“ **Well not if it’s on the floor.** ” Snatcher pointed at her feet. She looked down and grumbled as her well-cooked soup was now on the floor. “ **Probably wouldn’t be the best to serve the kid that dish.** ”

“Look, would you please—”

“ **Check on the kid and give her a piece of my mind? Sure!** ”

“What?! No! _Stop!_ ” The shadow didn’t listen to her as he took off towards the bedroom.

*^*

The lights were off when Snatcher fazed through the doors. His glowing eyes illuminated in the dark as he slithered right up to the bed. He could hear ragged breathing under the covers. Pinching the cloth between his fingers, he lifted the sheet slightly.

The kid look like DEATH! It shocked Snatcher how bad she looked. She skin was pale, her face was twisted in pain, there were dark bags under her eyes, and good NIGHTMARES this kid had it bad!

“ **Kid?** ” Snatcher was starting to grow a little worried. She wasn’t wearing her outfit, just a simple nightgown with frills, clutching his little gift he ‘mailed’ her. Her hair was down and her forehead was covered by a wet washcloth. Small whimpers were coming out of her.

This was certainly bad.

“ _You!_ ” Snatcher snapped his head towards the door, not noticing that they had opened. Cooking Cat was glaring at him, waving him over. “ _Get over here! Let the poor girl sleep!_ ” She whispered harshly so not to wake the child.

Snatcher glanced at the hatless child one more time before placing the sheet back over her and going over to Cooking Cat.

“What were you thinking?!” CC yelled as the entered the living room. “She doesn’t need anyone bothering her at this moment! You can’t just go barging in like that! She—”

“ **How long has she been sick?** ” Snatcher’s question cut her off.

“What?”

“ **How long has she been sick?** ” Snatcher repeated, looking at Cooking Cat with dead seriousness.

Baffled, CC thought back to the earliest she could remember. “About nine or ten days now. Maybe longer. She didn’t really start showing any signs of sickness till she collapsed. Make matters worse when she snuck out once and the Conductor brought her back carrying here like a small baby. Poor dear was out cold with a burning fever.”

“ **If it’s that bad, why has anyone taken her to a hospital already?** ”

“Do you know anyone with medical knowledge for sick alien kids?”

Snatcher opened his mouth but nothing came out. CC sighed, shaking her head. “The Conductor had taken her to the hospital first, but since she’s an alien, they were much of a help there.”

“ **Isn’t there a book or a medical guide on this ship? Anything that could help her?** ”

“No. I’ve cheeked everywhere I could and still found nothing that can help.” Snatcher turned away, frowning deeply at this new information. “Look, as much as your concern is nice—”

“ **Concern? _Concern?_ I’m not _worried_ about the kid! I’m just here because my minions wanted to know what happened to her and that’s it! Now that I know, I don’t need to bother coming back here again!** ” With that, Snatcher had disappeared again, leaving a confused and miffed cat.

*^*

“Come on sweetie. You have to eat!” Cooking Cat rose the spoon to the child’s lips, but sighed as she turned her head away with a whimper. “If you don’t eat something, you’ll only get worse. Please, try to eat something.”

“nooo.” Hat Kid weakly mumbled, hugging her Wolfy close to her and burying her face against the plush.

“Sweetie, please. Just try. I even made this one nice and mushy so you don’t have to chew it.” CC tried to bring the spoon closer to her, but was rebuked again. She sighed, putting the spoon down back in the bowl. “Alright, we’ll try again later. How’s you ice pack? Does it need changing?” She took the bag off of the child’s head, earning a whine of disapproval.

“Hmm. Feeling to be warm instead of cool. Be back in a bit sweetie.” Cooking Cat left the room, leaving the sick child alone.

She tried to sleep, but the smell of Cooking Cat’s soup was making her stomach turn in a sharp twist. Whimpering, she tried covering her head under her blanket and cuddle with her Wolfy. Normally she wouldn’t be cuddling her dolls like this, but Wolfy was special. Plus he was supper comfy to hug when she was feeling bad.

“ **Kid? Hey kid, you awake?** ” Something poked her side, forcing a whimper out of her. “ **Come on kid, I didn’t spend about two days worth of searching just for you to ignore me. Come on, get up.** ” The poking continued.

Hat Kid whined as she slowly proceeded to sit up. She weakly glared at the intruder for waking her up, but it was quickly replaced by a sleepy smile when she saw who it was. “sssnaaaaccccchhh…”

“ ** _Snatcher_ kid. A for effort though.** ” Snatcher huffed, setting down a large book at the foot of the bed. The hatless child looked at the book in confusion as he proceeded to open it wide and flip through the pages. “ **Let’s see. Sicknesses. Sicknesses. Hmm.** ”

“wha you do?” Hat Kid crawled over to the book, watching as Snatcher turned page after page.

“ **Looking through this old book on illnesses. Back in my day sicknesses were common. We had to rely on the village’s doctor a lot. Kind of a weird fellow. Almost like a voodoo doctor with crazy experiments going on at his place.** ”

“why?”

“ **Kid, I’m not dumb enough for this.** ” Snatcher gestured to her whole body. “ **Clearly you’ve contracted something that’s not normal.** ”

“didn’t… sign… noothing…” Hat Kid mumbled, hugging Wolfy and rubbing her chin on his head.

“ **Not _that_ type of contract kid.** ” Snatcher rolled his eyes. He kept looking through the pages, stopping on a few that seemed plausible to the kid’s sickness but was quickly thrown away once Snatcher checked for all other signs of the listed sickness. “ **Black tongue, no. Pinching ears, no. Sheesh kid, you’re sweating up a storm there.** ” Snatcher joked as he searched the kid’s hair for bugs lodged in her scalp.

“no funny…”

Snatcher frowned. “ **Kid. Help me out here will ya? Is there anything that you know might help me? Anything you’re not telling me?** ”

She pushed her lips together, thinking very hard. “… fiiingers… tingly… head… hurt… feel… icky… side… hurts… really… bad…”

“ **Which side?** ”

She lifted her left arm up, patting her left side. “still… hurts… when… got it…”

Snatcher could have quirked an eyebrow, if he had any. He maneuvered over to the left side of the bed, pinching the nightgown the kid wore. “ **May look for just a moment?** ” Hat Kid whined but allowed Snatcher to lift her nightdress up. It was not a pretty sight. There was a bruise on the kid’s side. A deep purple with small pale blue spots surrounding it.

… pale blue spots…

Why did this look so familiar to him?

He went back to the book, flipping the pages more urgently. “snnnnaaaach?”

“ **Hang on kid. I think I might got something here. I just need to find the right page and—ah-ha! Here we go!** ” Snatcher picked up book, looking over it carefully. “ **Let’s see what we’ve got here…** ” His smile was slowly turning downwards, frowning deeply. He looked at the kid to the book and back, looking at the child with an expression that she couldn’t place.

Finally, he lowered the book but didn’t let go of it. “ **K-kid? Funny… funny question.** ” Snatcher chuckled nervously, gripping the book tightly in his claws. “ **D-did you happen to find some flowers? Blue ones with purple tips with spiky leaves?** ”

Hat Kid looked at him confused.

“ **Y-you know. Long black stem, with a… a small vine wrapped around it, blackish color with red spikes on it.** ” She kept looking at him in confusion. “ **It’s-it’s a plant that float on water? Like on a small pond, or lake, o-or a puddle surrounding a big hallow tree with a face in it?** ”

Her eyes widened.

“ **You… didn’t get near any of those… right?** ”

She frowned a little. She pointed to her pillow pile. Snatcher frowned a moment, looking between her and the mountain of pillows. “fort.” She said softly, hugging Wolfy in a one arm hug. “fort.”

Snatcher blinked, but shrugged, diving slowly into the pillows and searched around till he found a secret little room. He found what awaited him was a big plush bear, a small bookshelf filled with books, a small desk with a book laid open.

_And a wilted flower inside a vase of water._

Snatcher. **_SCREAMED._**

*^*

_The young prince didn’t understand what was happening._

_Many strangers and servants were coming in and out of his parents room, dashing to and fro with items such as blankets, bowls of soup, jars filled with something he could not make out, and herbs that he recognized that were for medicine. But no matter how many times he tried to stop someone and ask what was going on, no one paid him any mind as they rushed about._

_He frowned sadly. Mother was awfully sick lately. His father was worried to the point where he didn’t even notice him tugging his pants. It was worrying the young prince how his mother was suddenly stuck in bed. It felt like it was his fault somehow. But he didn’t recall seeing his mother’s arm covered in small blue dots before or the red stuff coming out of her nose and ears._

_Father didn’t seem to react well when he told him about this. It was almost five days ago, and yet there was still no news about his mother._

_He tried distracting himself with books, but his worry was ever growing. He just wanted to know if his mother was alright!_

_“Wilfred? Is mother going to be alright?” He tugged on the old butler’s pants. Wilfred didn’t seem as busy as the others, and the old man looked down at him with a sad look on his face._

_“… My prince.” Wilfred started, licking his lips and glancing around the hall. “I’m… sure the queen is fine.”_

_“But she’s been stuck in bed for five days now! Wilfred, when will mother be better to come play again?” He tugged on Wilfred’s pants harder. He wanted to know that mother was going to be fine. That she going to come back. That she was just messing around with everyone and would return to her normal self soon._

_“… My prince. I’m… afraid that at this rate it’s already too late for the queen.” The old man sighed._

_“Why? Isn’t she just sick?” The prince tilted his head in confusion._

_“She’s been sick for far longer my prince.” Wilfred bent down on one knee, looking at the small boy in the eyes. “She has a sickness that has claimed many lives. And I’m afraid it will soon claim hers as well.”_

_“Why? What do you mean by ‘claim’? Is she going somewhere?”_

_The old butler frowned, rubbing a hand down his head as he sighed. “It’s… It’s called—”_

“ **The 25 day illness.** ”

Cooking Cat gasped, covering her mouth in shock. The scared look on her face would have brought joy to the ghost if he was not glaring at the wilted flower in his hand. Its wilted dry form mocked him, teasing him with its frail dead state.

He growled, crumpling the flower in his hand and making it into a fine powder. “ ** _Stupid weed_. I should have gotten rid of them sooner, but no. Some idiot had to invade my home and keep me busy from noticing the kid getting close to these things!** ” His hand ignited, burning the powered to ashes.

“It can’t be the 25 illness. I-it just can’t!” CC shook her head, gripping her chefs’ outfit in her claws.

“ **So you’ve heard about it.** ” Snatcher crossed his arms, dumping the ash to the ground.

“A little. Back when I was a kit in class. I’ve read about it and none of it was good.”

Snatcher sighed, watching as the small robot vacuumed up the remains of the flower. “ **It was a deadly thing in Subcon. It took many lives before a treatment was found.** ”

“I read that it died out years ago.” Cooking Cat looked at the ruler of Subcon. “But, I don’t think there’s a treatment for it now.”

The ghost growled.

“Snatcher, this is bad! Not only is she not doing well, but she’ll just get worse as the days—”

“ **I KNOW THAT!** ” Snatcher roared, slamming a fist against the wall and shaking the entire ship. “ **… I… know…** ” He hand dropped to his side, gaze locked down.

Cooking Cat stared at him a moment before sighing, shaking her head. “Look, I… I need to check up on her. Make sure she’s fine after that freak out you had earlier. Can you wait out here for a moment?”

“ **Sure just… whatever.** ” Snatcher sighed, sinking to the floor as Cooking Cat went to check up on the alien child. He buried his face in his hands. How was this possible?! That flower was supposed to be extinct years ago! It was the first plant to go once he saw it again after his death. He was sure that he got them all!

But apparently he missed some. And someone had the stupid idea of placing them around his home. How? How could this happen?! He tried to keep the kid from that accursed flower when he found them, but it seemed the kid already found it before he did! Why did that stupid Mafia man keep him so busy?!

There was no way the kid was going to live! She was as good as dead! And not by his hands but by stupidity! He didn’t know the cure for this! He couldn’t fix this with a simple snap of his fingers! He was powerful but he wasn’t a healer! Why didn’t he study more on health like his father insisted when mother died?! Why hadn’t he looked through the village healer’s notes when he had—

His eyes widen. “ ** _That’s it!_** ”

*^*

“ **Boss? Are you sure about this? We’re really from the village and—** ”

“ **QUITE.** ” Snatcher all but growled as he poked his head in another building for what felt like the hundredth time, hissing in anger as he pulled away. “ **It’s not this one either.** ” He floated to the next house, doing the same for that one and got the same result. “ **Are you certain you remember where his home was?** ”

The minion, who was the unfortunate one to still retain bits of memories of the old village before _her_ icy rampage, nodded their head. “ **Yes! He lived somewhere inside this area of the village! It was a big house with horseshoes hung on its roof!** ”

Snatcher sighed. It would have been that easy to find a building just like that, but _none_ of the houses had any roofs much less _whole_ roofs on them anymore. They were either caved in or completely missing.

“ **Boss? Is the newbie going to be okay?** ” Snatcher shot a glare at the minion.

“ ** _What do you think?_** ” He hissed, going to the next still partially standing building. Once he deemed it not the right one, he growled in frustration and blasted it away. “ ** _WHERE IS THE PECKING PLACE?!_** ”

“ **Calm down boss! I’m sure we’ll find it!** ” The minion scampered ahead of the Snatcher, coming across some ruins of what used to be an old building.

“ **This is getting nowhere!** ” Snatcher growled, throwing his hands up in the air. “ **Why did I even _think_ this was a good idea?! Everything here is nothing but ruins and rotting wood! No journal is going to survive wreckage like this!** ”

The minion wasn’t listening as Snatcher continued to rant. There was… _something_ about this place that rung bells in their mind yet didn’t know why. There was hardly anything left but the back crumbling wall of the building and its wood rotting flooring. Yet it felt very familiar to the minion the longer they stared at it.

“ **And just way did it have to be this place?! Why of all places did it have to be here where failure is EVERYWHERE?! Just being here makes me regret ever LIVING here! Of all places!** ”

Living here.

It clicked in the minion’s mind. They looked closer at the wall. Closer at the hanging horseshoe hung on the left corner. “ **BOSS! THIS IS IT!** ” The minion cheered, catching the Snatcher off guard in his ranting.

“ **What?** ”

“ **This is where the village healer lived!** ” The minion explained, hopping up and down. Though their joy wasn’t shared with the same enthusiasm with Snatcher as he stared at what little ruins remained.

“ **… there’s… NOTHING here.** ” The minion stopped jumping, looking at their boss in worry. “ **There’s absolutely NOTHING _left_ of this place!**” He growled, looking at the remains with anger. He extended his claws, jamming them into the floor and proceeded to tear out the rotting floor.

Only to be surprised to find something underneath.

“ **Are… Are those hidden boxes?!** ” The minion exclaimed as they saw many piles of boxes that were hidden under the floorboards. They picked up the closet one, opening it up and pulled out a jar with a dried plant inside. “ **This looks like a healing herb that the healer used. Were these boxes for storage or—** ”

They jumped as something smashed far behind them and looked up to see the Snatcher grabbing boxes after boxes, opening them and closing them. “ ** _Come on, come on. Where are you?!_** ” He grabbed one more box, opening it wide and smiled in triumph as he pulled out a worn old book. “ **JACKPOT!** ”

Tossing the now useless box away, he proceeded to go through the book, looking over every page carefully but quickly, flipping through page after page after page after— “ **HERE!** ” Snatcher pointed to a page in the middle of the book, lowering down to the minion’s level for them to see. “ **Here! The treatment for the 25 day illness! Every last detail and key!** ” He threw back his head laughing out loud as he hugged the book to his chest. “ **The kid has a chance! She has a chance!** ”

“ **Um, Boss? What does the book say?** ”

“ **Right right! The book! This wonderful book!** ” The Snatcher looked back at the page, reading it over and frowned. “ **… It says that the illness can be treated with a special concoction made of different certain plants.** ” His face grew hard.

“ **… Boss?** ” The minion was getting worried.

“ **… everyone.** ”

“ **What Boss?** ”

Snatcher shot forward, enlarging himself and glaring at the minion who shrieked and coward beneath him. “ ** _Gather every minion! I want all minions searching the whole forest for these plants! No one is allowed to stop until they have gathered ALL of the plants needed for this cure! Am I clear?!_** ”

“ **YES BOSS! IMMENSELY!** ”

“ **Well what are you waiting for then?!** ” Snatcher summoned parchments of paper with a list of all the plants needed written on all of them. “ **GET MOVING! GO GO _GO_!** ” The minion took off, running as fast as they could back to the village with papers in their hands. Snatcher himself already headed off, starting his search as fast as he could.

*^*

“Peck! Peck! Peck! **_Peck!_** ”

“Shouting peck isn’t going to make things any better.”

“Peck it is! It’s makin’ me feel jus’ dandy!” Conductor shouted, pacing around the living area of the spaceship. “Ah come bringin’ a doctor like ya asked, an now they’re tellin’ me they can’t do peckin’ squat ‘bout it?!” He stomped his foot on the ground. “What kind of doctor can’t help a lass when she’s in pain an sufferin’?! It’s like watchin’ me own kids sick with the flu, but worse!”

CC’s ears flattened against her head, looking on the verge of tears. The Conductor saw this, sighing loudly and shook his head. “ _Six days_ they say. All she has left, they say. What rubbish! If they can’t even give her somethin’ tae help with the pain, then they ain’t no doctor in me eyes. Can’t even show a smidgen of sympathy for this.” He sighed, leaning against the wall for support.

He hadn’t felt this drained since the doctors had told him there was nothing they could do for his dying wife.

“Isn’t there… _anything_ anyone can do?” CC asked, wiping her eyes.

“Well, unless someone come bargin’ in with a cure, Ah can’t really say fer sure.”

“ ** _COOKING CAT!_** ” The duo jumped as Snatcher burst out of the ground with several minions in his arms. He stood motionless for a moment before falling flat on his back, dropping the minions who they too fell to the floor with their boss.

“Good gravy on a battered pork roast! Snatcher you gave us a scare!” Cooking Cat along with the Conductor ran over to the large ghost. “Where have you been?! You took off the moment I went to check on the poor sweetie! Do you have any idea how worried you made her in her condition?!”

Snatcher wheezed, a feat that should not be possible for him since he didn’t need to breathe. “ **she… she’ll… thank me… later…** ”

“Ah don’t think so spook! No one has the right tae leave a sickly lass like that an expect them tae forgive ya! Ah have the right mind tae shove ya down there nearest, darkest, deepest hole Ah can find an—”

Snatcher held up a book, stopping the old bird in his ranting. “ **I’ve got it.** ”

“Got what?”

“ **The kid’s cure.** ” CC and the Conductor froze as Snatcher handed the book to Cooking Cat. “ **The middle section of the book contains the way to curing the kid’s sickness.** ” He pointed to the minions scattered all over the floor. “ **They have the ingredients for the cure.** ”

The minions weakly held up an ingredient before their arms flopped to the floor.

“Wha—ARE YOU TELLIN’ ME YA BEEN GOIN’ ROUND FER THE LASS’S CURE AN DIDN’T EVEN THINK ‘BOUT TELLIN’ ANYONE?!”

“ **Excuse me _birdy_ , but I was _BUSY_.** ” Snatcher glared at the old bird.

“Ah could have helped ya!”

“ **You would have been in the way!** ”

“Says you ya over grown shadow!”

“ **Well at least everybody knows what I am you old dinosaur!** ”

The Conductor gasped. “Oooh, NOW ya done it spook!”

“ **Oh yeah? Bring it on you—** ”

“ _SHUT UP!_ ” The duo froze, stopping their argument as Cooking Cat read the book over. “Boil water, cut plants, certain parts, squeeze this for juices… I can make this. I can make this!” She jump for joy, grabbing the Conductor’s arm and pulled him along. “Everyone to the kitchen! We have a cure to make!”

The minions groaned, getting up one by one and followed the cat as she dragged the Conductor along to the kitchen. Seeing everyone follow the duo, Snatcher sighed, laying his head back down as his worry started to disperse. Not long after, he was fast asleep.

*^*

“No!”

“Lassie please! Stop strugglin’! Ya need tae take this!”

“No!”

“Sweetie please! We don’t want to hurt you!”

“No!”

“Lass if ya don’t quit squirmin’ right now, Ah’m gonna force it down yer throat!”

“Conductor!”

“ _NOOOO!_ ” Snatcher growled, trying to focus on the book as the Conductor and Cooking Cat tried to feed the sick girl the cure. Only problem was, surprise surprise, she didn’t like it one bit. He could smell why. That stuff smelled **_AWFUL!_**

“Lass, please! It’ll make ya feel better! I promise!”

“Nononononononononono!” With another growl, Snatcher slammed his book shut and floated over to the bed.

“ **Alright, that does it.** ” He grabbed the child, forcing her to stay still. “ **You had the easy way kid, now we have to go this the hard way.** ”

“Snatcher—”

He shot a glare at Cooking Cat. “ **The longer she doesn’t take it, the closer she is to dying. So just shove some of that in her mouth already and get it over with!** ”

“ _No! Nononononononononononononononono!_ ” Hat Kid screamed, trying to get out of the ghost’s grip but proved to be too weak to do so. The Conductor and CC shared a look before the older of the two sighed.

“Alright lass, jus’ hold still an think of it as candy.” Conductor held her mouth open as Cooking Cat poured a spoonful into the sick girl’s mouth.

Her eyes widen as the most _awful_ tasting thing slid in her mouth. She would have spat it out had the Conductor not pinched her lips shut and forced her to swallow it. Tears ran down her face as the taste lingered in her mouth. But the worst part was yet to come.

The two adults and ghost cringed as she started hacking, dry heaving as her stomach, barely having anything inside for days, forced her to throw up the awful thing onto an awaiting towel laid out in front of her. She openly cried at this point.

“Oh lass. Ah’m so sorry.” The Conductor patted her back in sympathy, rubbing circles and hugging her close as she cried her little heart out. “There there lassie. Shh. Yer so brave. Yer a brave one. Shh. Ah know. Ah know.”

“ **Come on kid. You need to keep taking this.** ”

“don’t wanna!” Hat Kid cried, burying her face against the Conductor’s chest as he rocked her back and forth. “it’s yucky and gross and i don’t want it in meee!”

“Sweetie you have to take it! If you don’t then you’ll never get better!” CC tried to reason with the child. “We have to get the bad stuff out of you so you can get better, and you want to get better right?”

“No! No no no no NO!”

“ **You’re taking that stuff and getting better! Whether by force or your cooperation!** ” Snatcher growled.

“but it makes me feel bad!”

Snatcher sighed, shaking his head and leaned closer to the girl. “ **Look kid, do you want to die? Because that’s what will happen if you don’t take this stuff. Is that what you want? To die? A painful, slow, death? Hmm?** ”

The small girl sniffled, shaking her head.

“ **Then you have to take this. If you do, I’ll promise that you can have as many sweets as you want when you get better. Any sweet that you want and more for an entire week.** ”

She sniffled, blinking away her tears. “r-really?”

Snatcher nodded his head. “ **If you get better, you can have any sort of candy you want! But only if you take this medicine and get better.** ”

She stared at him a moment, hugging the Conductor. “…”

“Lassie, it’ll be fine. It’ll be over before you know it! An when it is, you can go back tea playin’, an runnin’ an all sorts of fun when ya get better.”

“And you’ll be able to eat again!”

She looked between the three, staring at them with puffy tear filled eyes. “… no more yucky?”

“ **You won’t have to taste it ever again when you’re well again.** ”

She was silent for a moment before she finally nodded her head.

*^*

Four days passed before they finally made progress.

The kid’s fever started to go down some, and she was starting to eat some soft foods again, if only just a little. Snatcher looked up from his current book as Cooking Cat stepped out of the bedroom with a try still full of food. “ **She’s still not eating?** ”

“No. But the good news is that she’s getting thirsty again.” Cooking Cat smiled. A small sad one. “If this keeps up, she’s be right as rain again! Though I do wish the Conductor was here. Poor sweetie won’t take the stuff without him there.”

“ **She has her wolf. She’ll be fine.** ”

Cooking Cat gave him a look. “You know, this is awfully nice of you to help the poor thing out like this. It’s generous of you to do something this nice.”

“ **Yeah yeah _fine_. I’m being nice. BIG deal.** ” Snatcher waved her off, focusing on his book as the cat chef went back to the kitchen laughing.

*^*

It was nice to see the newbie sleeping peacefully.

Seeing her sick made them feel bad, especially since it was the 25 days illness. They didn’t recall much of their past, but that name alone set shivers down their nonexistent spine.

They hummed a little, taking the cloth off the newbie’s head and dipped it in a bowl of water, wringing out the excess and putting it back on her head. Newbie was lucky the boss was so worried about her. She really made his life more… well. Lively!

She was certainly the boss’s favorite, even if he would never admit that.

“ **You really got the Boss wrapped around your little fingers newbie. I don’t think he’s ever show this much care for anyone before.** ” They ‘smiled’. “ **The Boss really likes you!** ”

“ _Yes. He does, doesn’t he?_ ”

They froze, quickly spinning around before the last thing they saw were strings and then.

Nothing.


	7. The Prince and The King

Once upon a time there lived a small village.

It was located deep within a magical forest ruled by a kind queen. The queen’s daughter fell in love with a prince and they spent many happy days together.

One day, the queen had an accident, and the queen’s daughter was crowned the new queen. The prince had to leave for a while to study to becoming the new king.

Every day she would wait for him, his letters keeping her heart from breaking as he wrote his love for her.

One day, she went out on a walk, greeting the villagers as she passed by, smiling at their playful manner.

Until she spotted her prince holding hands with another young woman.

Her heart broke. Didn’t he say that he loved her? Didn’t he promise they would be together forever?

She ran away in tears. When the prince tried to explain himself, she ordered the guards to lock him away.

That day was when everything changed. When the queen’s daughter turned into a broken monster, and when the prince learned that love was nothing more than a burden and should never let in harm him ever again.

*^*

Trees shot past him.

Dwellers scurried out of the way.

Minions watched in fear.

The king had returned.

And he was not happy.

His normal yellow eyes could only saw red as he flew through his forest at top speed.

Many could feel his aura, feeling danger being around him as he went deep into the forest.

He had an intent to kill, to murder someone.

He was dead set on it and nothing was going to stop him.

Everyone new that the king was hard to anger on this level.

Not many thing could tick him off this bad.

But something had, and someone was going to die tonight.

*^*

Hat Kid cried as her body moved on its own, moving this way and that in a little dance. She was hurting and she still didn’t feel good.

“ _Aw, don’t cry little one. Little puppets should be happy to be performing for their king._ ”

She bit her lower lip as she was tugged upwards into a blue hand of the Moonjumper.

“ _After all, our little show is about to start soon. Our special audience is about to show up and he wouldn’t be too happy if he saw you in tears now._ ” He squeezed his hand around her, making her cry out in pain. “ _Would he?_ ”

Moonjumper laughed, throwing his arms high up in the air, twisting round and round. “ _After many years of being denied my rightful place, I shall finally gain control over the forest! It was my right when_ **SHE** _became unfit to rule._ ” He grinned down at her, rubbing his thumb against her cheek. “ _I don’t understand how that **shadow** became ruler when it should belong to me! I was a prince once. So long, long ago._ ” He sighed wistfully.

“ _All those years of learning how to be a good king, all the laws and practices to hone out. All for nothing when_ **SHE** _entered our lives. But I can forgive her. She never entered a hardship like we had at a young age. Just a pampered sheltered life where she could have anything she wanted right at her feet…_ ”

“ _… makes me wonder what she could have turned out to be._ ” He shook his head, tossing the young weak girl back and forth between his hands. “ _But you? I don’t get you. I mean, he should have taken your soul by now and thrown your little body here with all the rest of them!_ ” He held her up by the strings, showing her the mounds of dead rotting bodies. The smell was making her gag.

“ _He’s taken hundreds and hundreds of souls before. Young and old, bird and man, ALL of the sorts! And yet._ ” He twisted her around to face him. “ _He lets YOU live. Why is that? You’re certainly nothing special. Well, not from what I’ve seen so far._ ” He took his thumb and index finger, trapping her middle between them and looked her over.

“ _A little girl alien who relies on her special hats to go about the world looking for… what did you call them again?_ ” He hummed, scratching his head. “ _Something small, tiny but with an interesting power…_ ” He smiled, a grim wicked smile. “ _Something that looks like… THIS._ ”

Something flashed in his other hand, and Hat Kid gasped as a Time Piece floated in Moonjumper’s hand.

“ _Oh don’t look so surprised my young dear. Did you really think that you collected all of these in_ **MY** _forest?_ ”

She shot a glare at him. “ _Snatcher’s_ forest.”

Moonjumper’s right eye twitched, enclosing his hand on the time piece. He hissed slightly as he took in some air and blew it out slowly. “ _Poor confused little_ **SICK** _._ ” He pressed his fingers together, causing the young girl to let out a shout of pain. “ _Girl. I think you meant to say_ **MY** _forest. Better yet. I don’t think I gave you permission to talk like that to me._ ”

Her face paled as he looked at her with something in his eyes that she did not like. “ _I left a specific message back at your place, but I think we’ve waited long enough for your_ **B. F. F.** _to show up. It just goes to show that you can’t trust a—_ ”

“ **PUT.** ”

Moonjumper froze.

“ **HER.** ”

He spun around, looking upwards.

“ **DOWN.** ”

Snatcher glared down at the duo, his eyes trained on them.

“ ** _NOW._** ”

“ _AH! Snatcher! You’ve arrived! How… delightful._ ” Moonjumper’s lips curled in disdained as Snatcher slowly climbed down the pillar like a coiled snake on tree’s trunk, his eyes never leaving the corpse or the sick child. “ _Any moment longer and things would have turned… ugly._ ”

Snatcher stood to his full height once he reached the bottom, holding out one hand and glared harder at the blue corpse. “ **The kid. Hand her over. Now.** ”

“ _Now that’s a bit rude. Demanding me to hand over my new puppet like you own—_ ”

“ ** _GIVE. HER. TO. ME. NOW!_** ”

Moonjumper recoiled a bit. He never seen the Snatcher like this before. He sighed, twisting the small girl pressed between his fingers. “ _Snatcher, Snatcher, Snatch Snatch diddle dee do. You’re so persistently SELFISH._ ” He tossed her up in the air, catching her in his hands and smiled as the Snatcher’s face contorted into a look of fury.

“ _First it was Subcon. Then it was the inhabitants. And now? Now you want take my new toy away? Oh you wound me so._ ” He pulled out a cage, and none too gently tossed Hat Kid inside. “ _We both know that there can only be one ruler of this forest. And that there can only be one to control it all._ ” He set the cage on a chain raising the cage up high. “ _If you want her back so badly… let’s settle this **like we ALWAYS DO.**_ ”

Snatcher watched as the cage went high, looking at the Moonjumper with shadows of his power leaking off. “ ** _FINE._** ” His claws extended, cracking with energy. “ ** _But you’re not leaving in one piece after tonight_.** ”

*^*

One upon a time there was a prince.

He was locked away down deep in a dungeon by the one whom he thought loved him.

 _This is all a big misunderstanding!_ He thought. _Surely my love will see that soon and free me!_

But nights passed, turnings into weeks to months.

The cold dug deep into his body, never once turning into a warm day for him.

The cold outside grew as it did inside the dungeon.

One night, on full moon night, as the prince glared at his shadow, he laughed as a funny thought occurred to him.

_Stupid silly me! I’m not the only one down here! All I have for company are these puddles and my own shadow!_

He laughed, madly.

_But what good use is a shadow to a **corpse?!** So be free shadow! You’re no use to me!_

And to his mad surprise, his shadow spoke.

*^*

The forest shook with power as two entities threw their powers against one another.

Strings shot through the air, pillars of deadly magic burst out of the ground. Claws slashed, digging into stone, earth, and blue and dark skin. Bodies slammed to the ground with force, pillars knocked over and crumbled to the earth.

It was deadlock match between a king and a would-be ruler.

She had never seen Snatcher act this way before, nor had he ever shown to be this powerful in their battles before. Watching him fight Moonjumper, it was like one of those fun TV shows that one of her friends back home liked to watch a lot. Had Snatcher been holding back with her? Or did he not see her as something worth putting his full power against?

She cringed as Snatcher slammed Moonjumper’s face into the ground before he retaliated by slashing his claws at Snatcher’s left eye.

Power blast after power blast rocked her small cage, tittering it to rock high in the air drop suddenly. It was not a good thing for her aching sick body.

She whimpered, curling in on herself as her body wracked with pain.

*^*

Once upon a time there was a shadow of a prince.

Everywhere the prince went, the shadow followed like a mirror.

Everything the prince did, the shadow did the same.

In every way, the shadow and the prince where the same.

But everything changed when the prince finally noticed the shadow and laughed in cackling madness.

 _Stupid silly me!_ He said as he laughed. _I’m not the only one down here! All I have for company are these puddles and my own shadow!_

_But what good use is a shadow to a **corpse?!** So be free shadow! You’re no use to me!_

The shadow, for the first time ever since the prince was born, suddenly felt something deep within itself.

Something it had never felt before and yet was suddenly aware of.

It slowly opened its mouth, speaking with its own voice that did not belong to the prince.

**_Free?_ **

The prince stopped laughing.

_… Am… A-am I going mad? For a second there, I thought I heard a voice. And what’s that I see? Eyes! Eyes in my own shadow!_

The shadow didn’t understand what the prince was saying. Eyes? What eyes? Shadows don’t have eyes. The prince did and… that stirred something within the shadow.

It did not want to be part of the prince. The prince got to do everything he wanted. He got to choose where to go. _He_ got to pick what to wear. **_He_** made all the choices that **_he_** wanted.

**_HE DIDN’T WANT TO BE PART OF THE PRINCE ANYMORE!_ **

With great bursting strength, the shadow pulled himself out of the ground.

And fled.

*^*

“ _You Were Once A Part Of Me!_ ” Moonjumper screamed, throwing his arms widely as the strings shot through the air, cutting into anything that stood in their way. “ _You LEFT me to **ROT** in that place!_ ”

Snatcher ducked behind one of the trees, diving into the shadows and popping out in a far distance. “ **To be fair with every argument we have of this, _you told me to GET LOST!_** ” He dived back in the shadows as the strings shot after him in that spot, hitting nothing but dirt.

Moonjumper growled as he missed again. “ _You ungrateful shadow! Did you even **THINK** how long it took me to get out of there?! The years after you left me to build my power to escape that place! But no matter! Once I rid of you from this place, Subcon will rightfully be mine!_ ”

“ **Stupid says what?** ”

“ _What?_ ” Moonjumper parroted before he realized his mistake and growled with anger as Snatcher howled with laughter. “ _GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME!_ ”

“ **Oh is that what we’re doing right now? I thought we were here to relive the past! You know, how you tried to take MY forest away from me.** ” Moonjumper twisted around, searching for the shadow in the darkness. “ **How you tried to _steal_ MY subjects. And how I blasted away your _legs for defying ME?!_** ”

Snatcher jumped out from beneath the large corpse, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him to the ground. “ **And now you’ve hurt one of my minions, leaving me a message threatening to KILL a sick girl, and you _STILL THINK YOU’RE THE RIGHTFUL RULER AFTER WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!_** ”

Moonjumper struggled to pull Snatcher’s hands off him, but the shadow pressed harder, digging his claws into the rotted blue flesh. “ **Normally I wouldn’t care too much.** ” Snatcher spook in a hush tone. “ **But you’ve gone too far this time.** ”

“ _Just over some GIRL?!_ ” Moonjumper choked, glaring up at the shadow.

Snatcher laughed, throwing his head back and tightening his grip. “ **You’d be surprised! Kid’s got an attitude and spunk like you’d never know! She stubborn but she’s got her head on right. She’s a little bit of a pest at times, but, eh, we all have been a bit bratty at young age.** ”

Moonjumper dragged his claws down along Snatcher’s arms, making the shadow wince in pain but didn’t let his grip go. “ _She just! A small! CHILD!_ ”

“ **Yeah, but if she wasn’t so sick she could kick—** ” Snatcher stopped, his eyes widened as a look of realization crossed his face. His eyes narrowed, looking at Moonjumper with a sickening feeling in his nonexistent stomach. “ **… _You were the one who put those flowers around my home._** ”

Moonjumper. Grinned.

Subcon Forest shook from a mighty roar of anger.

*^*

The shadow hated what he saw in his reflection.

He looked like the prince, but he was no longer a part of him!

He hated his face, so he got rid of it.

He hated his hands, so turned them into claws.

He had no use for walking, so he got rid of his legs.

He hated the torn but regal clothes he wore, so he turned his whole body into a single black shadow.

Once he liked what he saw, he was no longer the mirrored image of the prince.

He was now a shadowy ghost with long arms that ended in claws.

A shadowy serpent that flew in the air with no boundaries to stop him.

A face that struck terror with a dashing flashing smile and glowing eyes that illuminated in the dark.

He was a being that snatched the souls of trespassers who dared to enter his home, HIS kingdom.

He smiled.

Snatched.

 _Snatcher_.

That sounded like a good name for him.

*^*

They did not know what was happening.

One moment the forest was peaceful, and the next their tree had fallen over and a powerful aura coated the forest.

They took to the trees, hiding in the branches as two large scary beings were fighting.

They recognized one of them being the king, but the other was a mystery to them.

They could feel their king’s aura flaring.

Anger.

Grief.

**_HATRED._ **

Pain.

Most of the aura was flared at the strange new being, but the aura was also leading to somewhere else.

They were scared, but they wanted to help their king.

They followed the aura where it led to a cage.

They could feel the king’s aura strongly here.

Annoyance.

Anger.

Pain.

Worry.

Caring.

Acceptance.

Laughter.

Joy.

Love.

So much love here.

All for this strange looking small being.

This being that felt like fireworks and sunny days.

Of childish joys and new wonders to be found.

Of innocence untainted by the world.

Of happiness that wanted nothing more than to fill a void of loneliness deep within.

Their aura was weak.

They could feel it was weakening.

The king loved this being.

If the being died…

They had to help this being.

For the king.

*^*

“ ** _IT WAS YOU?! YOU PLACED THOSE FLOWERS THERE TO BEGIN WITH?! YOU CAUSED THE KID TO GET SICK?! YOU CAUSED HER 25 DAY ILLNESS?!_** ” Snatcher roared with fury.

Moonjumper dodged Snatcher’s attacks, but he wasn’t fast enough to evade all of them. He hissed as he barely managed to evade a blast attack from below. He knew Snatcher lost all sense of reasoning attacks once he lost his cool, but maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to sicken the child with such a deadly illness if this was the result of that plan.

Still, he had the upper hand. The child was still locked away in her little cage. If things were getting out of hand for him, he could always use her as a shield.

He hid behind a tree, resting a moment and taking a chance to glance at the cage. His red eyes widen. A Dweller was at the cage, pulling on the lock!

Moonjumper growled, dashed towards the cage at top speed, catching Snatcher’s attention and followed suite after him.

The blue corpse snagged the Dweller and the cage, angered that some small spirit tried to get in his way, not noticing the Snatcher coming up behind him and slash deep cuts within his back. The surprise attack from behind shocked Moonjumper to drop his grip on the Dweller and the cage, letting drop high from the sky.

The cage falling was enough for Snatcher to shove aside his rival, diving down after the cage, catching it in his hands and coiled around it protectively as they hit the ground. Dazed, snatcher quickly gained his bearings, and after casting a quick glare at the screaming cursing Moonjumper, he snapped off the bars of the cage, pulling the kid into his hands.

“ **Alright kid let’s get you somewhere safe away from thi—kid?** ” Snatcher frowned as there was no response. Hat Kid laid limp in his hands. “ **Kid? Kid come on. This. This isn’t funny. Wake up! Kid! Come on!** ” He poked her, pinched her cheek, flicked her ear, all those little things he did to annoy her that riled her up and made her face scrunch up in anger.

But there was no response for her.

Her chest wasn’t even moving.

“ **… k-kid?** ”

“ _YOU!_ ” Snatcher had no time to think as Moonjumper grabbed him from behind, losing his hold on the child as Moonjumper grabbed his neck and threw him over to the ground. “ _YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ATTACK ME WHEN MY BACK IS TURNED?!_ ” He grabbed Snatcher, throwing him into a pillar and toss him into the air. He sent thread after thread, piercing into Snatcher’s body. “ _YOU WORM! YOU EXCUSE FOR A KING! YOU WHO WERE ONCE MY SHADOW AND MY SOUL!_ ” He grabbed the threads, tugging them and threw Snatcher around, hitting him against trees, pillars, stones, and the earth.

Summoning many of his strings, he commanded them to wrap around the shadow’s body, pinning his arms together and officially trapping him. He grinned wickedly as he brought his prize down close. “ _I win. Just how it was meant to be._ ” He smiled, turning around and spotting the _same pecking **Dweller** nudging the child’s shoulder_. “ _Don’t think I forgot about_ you.”

The Dweller froze, looking up at him.

“ _As your new king, I find those who’ve have no loyalty to me… DISPOSABLE._ ” Strings shot forward, aiming for the Dweller who coward on top of the child.

And stopped.

Moonjumper blinked. His string weren’t supposed to just stop! He didn’t command it! And—wait. Were they _evaporating?!_

Moonjumper watched in mute horror as his strings started to smoke and evaporate into nothingness. He heard something behind him. He turned around… and quickly regretted it.

Snatcher’s body was twitching, no. Contorting! His fingers cracked, grew, lengthened, sharpened, twisting, bending, growing, breaking. Eyes of golden yellow were a deep crimson red, his smiled vanished and his mane went wild. An unearthly hiss emanated from him, strings and threads burning away from his growing unconstrained anger.

Before the last thread broke. Moonjumper knew he was in for a world of **_pain_**.

*^*

The new aura was _scary_.

The king’s emotions flooded their mind with pain, anger, pain, sadness, anger, pain, sadness, _anger, anger, sadness, pain, anger, **pain, fury, sadness, fury, fury, FURY, FURY—**_

There was no escaping his aura.

The whole forest could feel it!

Many brethren could feel his aura.

The false king could feel it too.

Backing away from the king as he let out a terrifying roar.

They flinched as the false king was swatted away like a fly.

The king went after them.

They were scared.

They were sad.

They needed to wake the small being.

They went back to nudging the small being.

Their aura was still there, still weak, but there.

The king couldn’t feel their aura through the mess of their emotions, but the small being was still alive!

If the king knew this, he would return to his old self!

They nudged harder and harder.

The battle behind them was growing.

They kept nudging.

They heard the false king scream in pain.

Come on small being!

Come on!

The king needs you!

Movement?

Movement!

Yes!

YES!

Come on small being!

They know they can do it!

Just!

Live!

The small being let out a gasp.

*^*

Snatcher had no attachments to anything besides his books.

He had forbidden himself to feel anything towards anyone. They were all the same to him. Just beings whose souls were meant to sustain him.

He stiffened, glaring down at his side. For some reason the kid had decided to visit him this night. Honestly, why did keep insisting on coming here?! He didn’t want her here and she already had her soul back!

He could toss her out in the rain. That would teach her to come barging in like she owned the pecking place.

“s… sna… cher…” He froze. She smiled in her sleep, snuggling into his side. Odd. Usually when someone dreamed about him, they usually woke up screaming.

He should still throw her out and make her go back to her own bed…

Peck it. He was too comfy in his chair and the kid was surprisingly warm against his side. He’ll do it tomorrow.

Or the next day.

Or the day after that.

But there was no way he was getting attached to this kid!

*^*

A cough.

Her cough.

He knew that sound anywhere.

His head spun around.

She was coughing.

She was moving.

She was alive!

“ ** _KID!_** ” Snatcher screamed, tossing the defeated Moonjumper away and flew towards the _still alive still alive still alive STILL ALIVE_ kid, scooping her up in his arms. She whimpered, but that was good! S-she was in pain, but still good!

Her blue eyes weakly opened, gazing up at him. “Snatcher?”

“ ** _You little BRAT!_** ” Snatcher roared, holding her up to his face. “ **DO YOU HAVE _ANY_ IDEA WHAT YOU PUT ME THROUGH?! I TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU ONE SECOND AND YOU GO GET CAPTURED! HONESTLY! I SHOULD JUST TAKE YOUR SOUL RIGHT HERE AND NOW AND NEVER GIVE IT BACK!** ”

She smiled at him. “I missed you too…”

Snatcher glared at her a moment before huffing, shifting his arms so that she was cradled protectively in his hold. “ **You’re just lucky that I don’t have the energy to do more than yell at you kiddo. I’m too tired right now and… are you sleeping?!** ”

Indeed she was. Snuggled against his form with her little hands gripping his mane for dear life.

Snatcher groaned, rolling his eyes. “ **I’m not a _bed_ kid. You got one back at your place waiting for you along with a worried cat.** ” Snatcher couldn’t help but smile a little. His body ached and his wounds would need time to heal, but the kid was safe now.

His smile vanished when the Dweller started nudging the kid’s cheek roughly, disturbing her sleep that she needed to recover. “ **Hey hey. Stop that.** ” He shoved the Dweller away. It looked at him in confusion. “ **She’s sleeping. She needs that to recover from her sickness.** ” He knew it was rather pointless to talk with a Dweller. They never said a word or sound.

So maybe it would have been great if it could.

Otherwise it would have shouted for him to look out for the being behind him. Maybe it would have screamed as the being threw an hourglass to the ground beside him, opening up time vortex that sucked them in and disappeared. Vanishing without a single trace left of them.

Once the light faded away and there was no trace of them anywhere, Moonjumper slowly cackled before breaking out into a full blown mad laughter. He didn’t know where they went, or when, but they _gone_. Subcon was HIS now.

He giggled madly, holding his armless side as he struggled to stay floating. He was very weak, but he didn’t care. He WON. That was all that mattered to him.

But if he had the chance to be a little bit sane at the moment, he would have possibly spotted the glowing eyes of minions in the fog. Or the bright bodies of Fire Spirits who were not dancing. Or the many Dwellers gathering in the tree tops. Or the many unhappy, angry inhabitants who witnessed what he had done.

If he had, maybe he would have had a chance to escape.


End file.
